Many electronic devices employ microprocessors or other digital circuits which require one or more clock signals for synchronization. A clock signal permits the precise timing of events in the microprocessor, for example. Typical microprocessors may be supervised or synchronized by a free-running oscillator, such as driven by a crystal, an LC-tuned circuit, or an external clock source. Clocking rates up to and beyond 40 MHz are common in personal computers. The parameters of a clock signal are typically specified for a microprocessor and may include minimum and maximum allowable clock frequencies, tolerances on the high and low voltage levels, maximum rise and fall times on the waveform edges, pulse-width tolerance if the waveform is not a square wave, and the timing relationship between clock phases if two-clock phase signals are needed. (See Electronics Engineers' Handbook, by Fink et al., p. 8-111, 1989.)
Unfortunately, high performance, microprocessor-based devices using leading edge, high speed circuits are particularly susceptible to generating and radiating electromagnetic interference (EMI). The spectral components of the EMI emissions typically have peak amplitudes at harmonics of the fundamental frequency of the clock circuit. Accordingly, many regulatory agencies, such as the FCC in the United States, have established testing procedures and maximum allowable emissions for such products. For example, the Commission Electrotechnique Internationale (Comite International Special Des Perturbations Radioelectriques (C.I.S.P.R.)) has guidelines establishing measurement equipment and techniques for determining compliance with regulations. More particularly, for the frequency band of interest to clock circuits, the measured 6 dB bandwidth is a relatively wide 120 KHz.
In order to comply with such government limits on EMI emissions, costly suppression measures or extensive shielding may be required. Other approaches for reducing EMI include careful routing of signal traces on printed circuit boards to minimize loops and other potentially radiating structures. Unfortunately, such an approach often leads to more expensive multilayer circuit boards with internal ground planes. In addition, greater engineering effort must go into reducing EMI emissions. The difficulties caused by EMI emissions are made worse at higher processor and clock speeds.
Power switching circuits also tend to generate EMI emissions due to the rapid switching of high currents and high voltages. EMI noise reduction in such circuits is generally achieved by suppression of the noise source, isolation of the noise coupling path, and filtering or shielding as reported, for example, in Reduction of Power Supply EMI Emission by Switching Frequency Modulation, Lin et al., Virginia Power Electronics Center the VPEC Tenth Annual Power Electronics Seminar, pp. 129-136, Sep. 20-22, 1992. The article further discloses that it is possible to modify the EMI spectrum of the switching power supply circuit to pass regulatory tests by modulating the switching frequency so that side-bands are created thereby smearing the emission spectrum.
In particular the Lin et al. article discloses a switching frequency of 90 KHz that is frequency modulated with a simple sine wave at 400 Hz with the frequency variation selected to be 15 KHz. Improvement of emissions at 90 KHz was reported, which is important because the fundamental frequency EMI determines the amplitude of a required EMI filter for the switching circuit. The article further discloses that from the EMI point of view, a larger frequency variation may be selected and, since there are side-band harmonic frequencies created by the simple sine wave frequency modulation, it is necessary for the switching circuit that these side-bands do not fall within the audible range.
The regulatory requirements for switching power supply circuits fall within a different regulatory category than clock circuits. In particular, as specified by C.I.S.P.R., such switching circuits are only measured for a relatively small 6 dB bandwidth of 9 KHz. Accordingly, approaches described for compliance with such a regulatory test for such a small bandwidth are not adequate to address the difficulties associated with reducing EMI components for high speed digital circuits operating in the tens of megahertz range. The problem associated with lowering measurable EMI emissions is especially difficult where the measured bandwidth is relatively large, such as 120 KHz as in the C.I.S.P.R. regulations which pertain to emissions as generated at typical clock frequencies.